90th District candidates vie for votes in League of Women Voters forum

Thursday

Jul 10, 2014 at 10:46 PMJul 11, 2014 at 9:35 AM

By Andrea.Goodell@HollandSentinel.com(616) 546-4275

EDITOR'S NOTE: An earlier version of this story misidentified the date of the August primary. It is Aug. 5.From Common Core to road funding and prison reform, the entirely audience-driven League of Women Voters 90th Statehouse District forum covered a diverse range of topics Thursday evening.After brief introductions, the four candidates answered questions in turn. Vying for the open Statehouse seat are Daniela Garcia and Bob Harmsen, of Holland, Geoff Haveman of Hudsonville, and David Kroll of Zeeland.Republican Jim Holtrop and Democrat James Haspas have dropped out, but their names will still appear on the ballot. With the sole Democrat out of the race, the Aug. 5 Republican primary is, for all intents and purposes, a general election.Each candidate describes him or herself as a fiscal conservative. Haveman would cut the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and other economic development groups. Kroll wants film subsidies gone and government payroll examined for efficiencies. He also plans to cut his own salary and those of his colleagues if elected and promotes a part-time Legislature. Garcia would use oversight and transparency to determine where cuts should be made, while Harmsen has set his sights on film incentives and prevailing wage for state contracts.Prisons are the No. 1 cost in the Michigan state budget. Controlling costs there has been an elusive goal for years.By privatizing services and offering training to inmates, Garcia hopes to cut costs and reduce recidivism.“The greatest savings we can have in our corrections system is to have less people there,” said Harmsen, who also advocated technology to help reduce prison labor costs.Nonviolent offenders are held for too long, Haveman said, and judges should be given flexibility in sentencing.Post-release programs can cut recidivism, but amenities such as cable and Internet while behind bars should also be looked at for cost savings, Kroll said.“The number one, two and three priority for me is the economy,” said Garcia who spoke to her 10 years as a staff member on Capitol Hill and at the state level, while Harmsen touted his “business and leadership experience that I think we need in Lansing,” saying he wasn't interested in being a career politician.Kroll, who has held a variety of jobs and is now employed at Hillshire Brand and as a part-time truck driver, pointed to his leadership roles in his church and volunteer activities for the Republican Party.Haveman, who has a Zeeland law practice, is a proponent of openness and transparency in government, saying “government shouldn't be a game of hide the ball.”Also among the state’s top expenses is education. When it comes to Common Core, the majority of the candidates are opposed to the standards shift being adopted by some states.“I do not support Common Core. Common Core is basically a takeover of our school system by the federal government,” Harmsen said.Haveman turned to his legal background and said education is not among the “limited and enumerated powers” allotted the federal government by the Constitution. He called the Common Core curriculum “wrong headed.”Kroll wants each school district to be able to create its own curriculum.But Garcia pushed back.“Let's be clear Common Core, is not a fed mandate. It is a grass roots,” Garcia said, pointing to its creation by the National Governors Association. “Our students need baseline standards. … It does not dictate how teachers teach our students.”The next League of Women Voters forum will be for the 80th District candidates 7-9 p.m. Tuesday at Saugatuck High School, 401 Elizabeth St., Saugatuck.The Ottawa County Patriots will host a 89th District forum 7 p.m. July 22 at the Howard Miller Library, 14 S. Church St., Zeeland.— Follow this reporter on Facebook and on Twitter, @SentinelAndrea.